One stop source of EP-related data for campaigners and curious citizens alike
We updated our tttp.eu platform with data about the new European Parliament. Have a look and be among the first to see the key stats and facts about the new EP! Wondering how many women MEPs sit on the Committee on Budgetary Control (spoiler: not a lot) or which member state’s MEPs are on average the youngest? Use our user-friendly tool to find out. And crucially, you can use it to access a list of new MEPs with their e-mail addresses (and even phone numbers) for your campaigns. It’s an interactive space which saves us from canvassing multiple official websites. Browse ahead and please share any interesting findings!
Where is the data coming from?
Most of the data is coming from the European parliament website via parltrack that has been scraping it and dealt with format changing without warning, thanks to Stef for his amazing work. We also use epnewshub.eu as well as wikidata, a wonderful project from wikipedia, we are mostly using it to add missing information (eg twitter account and for extra verification.
Last but not the least, we have a list of more than 6000 candidates for the ep2024 elections that we used to add missing information too, many thanks to worked with hundreds of activists and NGOs staff that helped us built that list.
Sadly, the European Parliament makes mistakes too and have incorrect twitter accounts or Gaetano PEDULLA’ is misspelled (it should be is Pedullà, thanks Sebastian, our data journalist that spotted it). We are in touch with the MEPs to adjust where needed.
Please note that the delegations aren’t published yet at the time of writing, we will add them as soon as they are.
Meanwhile, some take aways from FTSQ looking at key figures:
Women representation
Among 719 (number explained below) confirmed MEPs 279 are women. The proportion of women among all MEPs has remained roughly as at the end of previous term and amounts to 39%.
There are significant disparities across member states and political groups, though. Sweden leads the pack with the highest percentage of women MEPs, boasting 62%, closely followed by Finland (61%). In both instances the results are slightly higher than in April 2024. Meanwhile, Cyprus does not have a single woman MEP. In terms of political groups, the Greens/EFA has the highest proportion of women, with just over a half (51%) of female representatives. ECR has the lowest female representation at 22%. Committees with highest percent of women among their ranks are: Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (90%), Culture and Education (63%) and Employment and Social Affairs (57%), all of which, incidentally, also comprise of at least 50% of first time MEPs. Committee on Constitutional Affairs is the one with the lowest percent of female MEPs (mere 13%).
data producer warning
In the past, we could use the french version of the website to get the gender of the MEP (née vs. né), the EP has changed their presentation and it isn’t possible anymore. Since the last term, we have used their first name and picture to classify them as men or women. We understand that gender is not binary and we may have misgendered some individuals; please contact us to correct any inaccuracies.
Newcomers
Just over a half of current MEPs are newcomers (they have never sat in the EP before). 90% of Portugal’s current MEPs are “newbies” while on the other end of the spectrum Estonia’s first time MEPs constitute only 14% of their representation.
The most “veteran” MEP is Charles Goerens (Renew) who sat in the EP (with interruptions) since it’s first term (he joined in 1982).
Only 38% of Greens/EFA MEPs are newly-elected making the group the one with the highest percentage of “returning” MEPs. The groups with the largest number of newcomers are ESN (84%) and ECR (63%). Among the non-attached MEPs 75% are “newbies”.
Committees with the highest percentage of newcomers among their ranks are Committee on Culture and Education and Committee on Transport and Tourism (both composed of 70% of newcomers). Committee on Regional Development also boasts a large proportion of “newbies” at 66%. Other committees where at least half of the members are newcomers include Agriculture and Rural Development, Human Rights, Employment and Social Affairs, Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, Internal Market and Consumer Protection, Industry Research and Energy, Fisheries, Petitions, Securities and Defense. Committee on Constitutional Affairs is the one with the lowest percentage of first time MEPs (23%).
Age demographics
The average age of MEPs in the new EP is 50 years. It is a slight decrease compared to the previous term when this average was 54 years. Currently the youngest MEP, Lena Schilling (Austria), is 23 years old and the oldest, Leoluca Orlando (Italy), is 76. Malta’s MEPs are of the lowest average age at 41, while the member states with the highest average MEP age is Luxemburg (60).
The missing MEP
Only 719 MEPs have been confirmed so far. Who’s missing? Toni Comín, a Catalan separatist in exile whose seat remains vacant for the time being. Comín faces an arrest warrant in Spain over his role in Catalonia’s failed independed referendum of 2017 and refused to travel back to Madrid to take an oath on the Spanish constitution. As a result, Spain’s Electoral Board left him off the list of MEPs which prompted Comín to initiate proceedings before the CJEU.
Are you planning a campaign and would like to engage with the MEPs?
We have empowered hundreds of campaigns, many of which directly targeted MEPs. We have also just finished a large-scale project targeting the candidates in the EP elections across EU.
We are updating our dedicated tools for digital campaigning and will be soon launching an updated mail-to-target feature allowing your supporters to write to this term’s MEPs directly.
Please write to contact@fixthestatusquo.org for more info!